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What is SIM card?
The full name of SIM is Subscriber Identity Module. It is a small chip, which connects our mobile to the mobile network. In simple words, SIM card is our mobile identity. When you take a SIM from a telecom company, the company associates a mobile number and network related information with this SIM for you. This is why your mobile is able to recognize the network.

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Why is SIM card necessary?
If the phone is a car, the SIM acts like its number plate. This lets the mobile network know which customer this phone belongs to. You can make calls with the help of SIM. Can send and receive SMS. Can use mobile data. You can connect to the network with your identity. If there is no SIM, then camera, games, Wi-Fi and some offline features will work in the mobile, but the services related to mobile network will not work.
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How does a SIM card work?
When you turn on the phone, the SIM card sends its identity to the mobile network. The network checks whether the SIM is valid or not. If everything goes well, the network allows you to use services like calls, internet and messages. Some important data remains safe in the SIM card, such as our mobile number, customer identity, network related information, special code for security. For this reason, if we insert our SIM in any other mobile, then the same number and network starts working in that mobile also.
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Can a mobile work without SIM?
Yes, but limited. Without SIM you can use internet through Wi-Fi. Can use camera. Can watch the video. Can play games. But without SIM you will not be able to use routine mobile calls, SMS and mobile data.
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What is eSIM?
Nowadays many new smartphones have also started coming with eSIM. There is no need to insert a separate plastic SIM card in it. The network is activated in the digital chip already installed inside the mobile. Its benefit is that there is no need to change the SIM and space is also saved in the phone.
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Some other information related to SIM card
- The world’s first SIM was made in 1991. It was made by the German company Giesecke + Devrient. Its memory was only 8 KB.
- Thousands of contacts could be saved on a SIM card, although today most people use the cloud or phone memory.
- There is no physical card in eSIM. It is activated through QR code or telecom profile.
- Every SIM card has a unique ICCID (Integrated Circuit Card Identifier) number, which identifies it differently.
- The size of the SIM card became smaller with time. First there was full-size SIM, then Mini SIM, Micro SIM, Nano SIM and now eSIM has come.
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